Eric Copeland, founder of Black Dice, comes to Gallery 5, possibly for his first visit to Richmond, in support of new DFA Records LP Joke in The Hole. Copeland specializes in a very wet deconstructed mutant sample-based pop. It is so much more off-the-deep-end, chopped and screwed up into a noisier stratosphere than his peers/frequent tourmates, Animal Collective's Avey Tare and Panda Bear. Black Dice were a group that infamously made Lightning Bolt confess (in the 2002 documentary The Power of Salad) to feeling like a classic rock band in comparison to Black Dice's shaken up and blasted off psychedelic Boredoms-esque meanderings.
In this era where lots of basement noise musicians are twisting the knobs towards to full blown dance trax (see Container, Ital, and most appropriate local openers for this show, Mutwawa), it is fitting that the newest Eric Copeland record comes out on the primarily dance record label DFA (LCD Soundsystem, Shit Robot, Factory Floor, etc). Joke in the Hole is foaming with dubbed out sampler abuse and mutant disco beats under the surface, phasing in and out of sync with robotic loops. It serves up a mixed palette of phased tropicalia, smoked out drum echoes, and feverish vocal hash. Gotta love the rasta-colored and booty-prominent collage cover too.
Along with the aforementioned Mutwawa--throbbing beats and gutter noise tab jacking from Richmond's Gary Stevens (Head Molt) and Jason Hodges (Suppression/Bermuda Triangles)--the bill will also feature Norfolk projects Scoughs and Karacell. Opening the evening will be Daggering, a collaboration between Richmond projects Scant and Floodbeast. Friday's Gallery 5 show will be as much a honey dipped delight for the dancefloor as for the burned-mind noise heads.
WHAT:Eric Copeland Comes To RVA!
WHO:Eric Copeland, Mutwawa, Scoughs, Karacell, Daggering
WHERE:Gallery 5, 200 W. Marshall St
WHEN: Friday September 20, 7 PM